Alaska Natives Share Culture, History: Corporations diversify into visitor industry.

• Author: Simonelli, Isaac Stone
• Position: Alaska Native

Alaska Native corporations have earned positive reputations for their work with government contracting and in the oil and gas industry. However, a number of corporations have also balanced and diversified their portfolios with tourism industry assets.

One strong selling point for these businesses--beyond the wild beauty of Alaska they grant access to--is the opportunity for socially conscious tourists to directly support Native groups as well as have a direct conduit to learn about the history and the traditions of the people who have a long, deep connection to the land.

St. Paul Island Tour

"The blend of traditional lifestyle with modern life is very subtle, yet very dietinct We have passionate leaders on the island who work to preserve our culture, particularly for the youth and generations to come," says Ron Philemonoff, CEO of Tanadgusix Corporation, a shareholder-owned Aleut Alaska Native village corporation that owns and operates The St. Paul Island Tour.

"Our island is famous for attracting worldwide birders to the island and naturalists [and] photographers seeking incredible natural beauty... to view our fur seal population, reindeer herd, and Arctic fox. On our tour we incorporate stories of our heritage [and] language in relation to all that they see."

St. Paul Island, also known as the Galapagos of the North, is the largest of the Pribilof Islands, situated in the Bering Sea far off the coast of the Alaska mainland.

"Everyone in the community is a shareholder and owner of the tour program we operate. Their only wish is that we succeed and that we sustainably operate the program for the future generations," Philemonoff says.

However, Philemonoff is not confident that with the current amount of state support the company, based in the remote community of 400 [rho]eople, will last.

"We do our best to support marketing of our tour program with digital delivery to targeted channels. There is never enough money to do this adequately, and we have traditionally relied on the state tourism authority to put Alaska on the map, so to speak, as a choice destination," he says. "The future looks troubling with just what looks like barely $3 million in state marketing funds. We will seek cooperation with other like-minded natural adventure and outdoor tour operators to maybe cooperate with us in some way to bundle our tour."

Philemonoff hopes that their membership in the American Indian and Alaska Natives Travel Association will also help boost the island's global appeal.

"The future for this cultural heritage and history [tour] is huge and growing, particularly from China and Asia, [which shows] 15 percent to 20 percent growth per year," he says. "It is worrisome...